Friday April 22

I am located in a small cluster of villages that are tucked between a large hill on the North, the mouth of the Portoviejo river to the south, large open salt flats to the east and the pacific to the west

From la boca ( mouth) in the south to Punta Charapato ( or Punta Bikini if you are selling real estate ) in the north i is 15 klm?  From the pacific to the salt flats might be 2 kilometers.  

Within this space there are 3 villages that flow into each other. From the north San Clemente, then San Alejo and San jacinto

The population might be 5,000?  

Within this area there are maybe 100 full time expats. There are also a similar number of short term and long term visitors. The rest of the population is made up of fishermen, builders or merchants.  There are a large number of vacation homes.

We are in large bay so at night we can see the lights of Manta in the distance to the south, and some nights we can see the lights of Canoa to the north….

The local population is made up of 6 or 8 very extended families.

The feeling I get while I am here is like no other place I have ever lived.   I think that is  why I am so reluctant to leave.

Thursday afternoon I rode my bike North to San Clemente. I wanted to see how my friends there were doing.

I came across 2 large dump trucks from a town further inland.  They were handing out water and plantains ( a banana variant that is a staple here) people were orderly.

After visiting and seeing the work being done on houses, I rode back south.  

In el centro of San Jacinto there where 2  40 foot trucks.   As I got closer I could see they were unloading…with crowds of people around.

There were police and army watching and organizing as a line of locals were moving bottles of water from one truck into a warehouse.

When that truck was empty, they got prepared for the second 40 foot trailer.   

The organizers had people form 4 lines…. 2 lines of men on the inside….2 lines of women and children on the outside.   The women and children held hand….basically making a fence, as the truck was opened and the men passed the packages from one to the other until the goods were added to the warehouse.  

Once, someone tried to make off with a package, and the roar of the crowd brought him back….. Another time a lady tried to hide a package of toilet paper…. Again the noise from the crowd was too much peer pressure and she gave it back.